


One Small Step

by lordofsoup



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Just a Fluff Fic, M/M, Romantic Fluff, Screw Howard, by a real person!!!!, finally i get to use that tag, i love space but i love tony stark more, i will write starkquill bc i have to do everything in this house, peter quill is a cheeseball and i LOVE HIM, the fic is better than the summery trust, this was edited!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-29 06:53:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15067583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lordofsoup/pseuds/lordofsoup
Summary: Tony is learning to love space again with the help of the one and only Peter Quill. And while he couldn't be more grateful, he draws the line at romantic space walks.





	One Small Step

**Author's Note:**

> alternatively titled: one small step for peter one giant leap for tony

Tony woke up feeling better than he had in years and made a mental note to send Mantis a goddamn intergalactic fruit basket. 

He stretched leisurely out on the bed, opening his eyes at the sound of footsteps. Sure enough, the infamous Star-Lord bounded in, struggling to pull his shirt over his head. With a bit of effort, his head popped out, hair wild and cheeks tinged red. Tony matched his grin with a soft smirk of his own. 

"Hey Tones," Peter almost purred, perching on the edge of the bed. Tony gave a jaw cracking yawn, wrapping his arms around Peter from behind.. "Morning," he said, scrunching his nose. "Well, I guess there isn’t really morning in space."

Peter chuckled, "It's close enough." Tony hummed and gently ran his hands down his lover’s sides.

"So you're going home today huh?" 

Tony nodded against his shoulder. "Yeah..." He swallowed with difficulty. "Listen, I'm-" Peter cut him off with a wave of his hand, turning to face him.

"Tony, don't. I get it." 

He slowly interlocked their hands, thumb rubbing softly over his fingers. "Earth needs you. Even more than me." Peter looked at him with complete adoration, which was so overwhelming that Tony forced himself to avert his gaze and instead focused on their intertwined hands.

A moment of bittersweet warmth passed between them before Peter gripped his hand tighter and pulled Tony up into a sitting position on the bed.

"Come on, sweetpea, you can sleep anytime," he cheerfully proclaimed. "Get dressed. I've got a romantic day planned!" 

Tony chuckled, deciding to play along. "I had a romantic day planned as well, but mine involved staying in bed." 

Peter gave a predatory smile and leaned in closer. "Well as fantastic as that sounds, angel, I'd like to send you home with something a bit better than a limp." 

Tony groaned softly, closing the distance between them with a brief chaste kiss. They can have fun later; right now he's curious as to how someone like Peter Quill would plan a romantic day.

 

Oh fuck this.

Peter stood by the bay doors of the Milano looking so goddamn proud of himself. He held a small round device out to Tony, with a similar one attached to his chest. 

He stepped a little closer as Tony's face fell. Dimly, Tony realized that he had clutched the door frame in shock. 

"Tony..." Peter pleaded. He looked up at him shyly through his lashes with a small, sad smile. That bastard.

Tony let go of the door frame and took a step back, jabbing a finger at him accusingly. 

"Don't give me that puppy dog face this is not happening."

And okay, in retrospect maybe he overreacted, but in his defense, the other man's proposition took him off guard. He turned to leave but Peter grabbed his arm. 

"Tony, come on," he tried. And maybe Tony was going a little soft because he didn't immediately pull away. Peter tugged him around to face him. Both of his hands clutched Tony's biceps to keep him from bolting. 

"Pumpkin, really, you've come so far. I don't understand why this is so different?" 

Tony squirmed out of his grasp, "Because it's stupid and dangerous and did I mention stupid?" 

"Okay, one, it's not dangerous these exosuits are perfectly safe. Two, it’s not stupid! I mean, okay it’s a little silly, but that's what makes it fun! And three, you go out in your suit all the time how is this different?" 

"That's different because I made the suit and I know it's limits." 

It's a weak argument, and he acknowledged that. And really, he put up with so much, but he drew the line at 'romantic' spacewalks. 

He'd gotten so much more comfortable with space again since he first met the Guardians. If anyone asked, he'd say Peter forced him to come, but they both know that's not true. 

Tony is nothing if not incredibly stubborn. He wasn't about to let an irrational fear of space keep him from the man he was falling in love with. (Because Peter was from the stars and Tony would never keep him from his home.) He was determined to reclaim his identity from this years-long terror. To prove that he was stronger than his fear; stronger than what happened to him.

When he was young he watched the launch of Voyager 2 from his couch sitting curled up next to Jarvis. He had only been seven at the time but he was smart enough to understand the magnitude of the event. He practically vibrated in his seat as mission control counted down the seconds to launch. He watched wide-eye as the rocket blasted away from Cape Canaveral. He squealed in joy when the news feed declared the launch a success. 

After the launch Jarvis fixed him a bowl of ice cream and they sat together at the kitchen table; Jarvis with a fond smile on his face as Tony chatted a mile a minute about the type of data Voyager would collect and the intricacies of aerospace engineering.

Two weeks later, he tugged Jarvis down the hall to watch the launch of Voyager 1 only to find his father pacing the floor of the living room yelling into a phone. Tony can’t remember what his father was upset about but he remembers the way his furious gaze landed on him and the way he shrunk behind Jarvis who stood prim and proper in the face of his father’s rage.

“Fucking hell Jarvis! I’m in the middle of something get him the fuck out of here!” 

“Yes Sir I understand-” 

Tony closed his eyes as his father raised his hand. There was a loud crash. He opened his eyes and saw him standing hunched over breathing heavily; there was a lamp shattered against the wall. 

Jarvis hurried him down the hall with a gentle hand on his back. 

He watched the launch of Voyager 1 on Jarvis’ bed through eyes blurry with unushered tears and his tiny hands trembling with fear. 

He still followed Voyager’s journey. He plotted the course of the satellite alongside the experts and eagerly waited for new information to be transmitted from deep space. 

He did it all in private. This one source of childish curiosity and wonder in his life was kept guarded deep in his heart.

Then he grew up. His love of space remained a deeply kept secret. He still followed NASA religiously, donating to them in secret, he still designed rockets and explored the vast world of astrophysics just for fun. 

In public he looked forward; in private he looked up. And really aren’t they the same thing?

Then New York happened. 

He stopped looking up in wonder and started looking up in fear. And no one would ever know how much he really lost that day. 

Then Peter happened. Peter, who was everything Tony loved about space when he was younger. The expansiveness that promised adventure and new beginnings. That romantic ideal that he thought long extinguished after the disaster at New York suddenly flared back to life. 

Peter offered him a chance to regain his love for the stars and Tony was just stubborn and stupid enough to take it.

That first week in the Milano was hell. He started out with short day trips within their solar system: perfectly safe, Peter assured him. 

And he knew this. He knew logically it was safe; that he was safe in the company of the Guardians. Even still, he would look out the window and see the creeping void of space that threatened to devour him and the blackness would creep into the edges of his vision. The heaving breaths and pain in his chest had long since become familiar.

But Quill was there. Holding him close, he would point out the multitude of new constellations that dotted the unfamiliar sky and make up ridiculous stories for each one. He would play his music obnoxiously loud despite the protests of the other guardians to combat the downright oppressive silence of outer space.

Gradually, he got better. Gradually, the trips off planet grew longer. Gradually, he found a family in this rag tag group of misfits. 

Gradually, he fell in love. 

He made so much progress these past few months; he even designed a suit specifically built for missions in space, and hadn't had a full blown panic attack in weeks. He was pleasantly surprised to find that nowadays when he thought of the vast expanse of space, he did not think of his impending doom but instead of Peter. Of his stupid music and goofy smile and dorky laugh. 

But now, his lover was suggesting a space walk. Peter’s jet boots and their exosuits the only armor he had. 

It was too soon. 

Peter clasped Tony's hand between his, bringing it to his chest. He looked imploringly into his eyes. 

"Tony please, trust me. I would never do anything to jeopardize you or any of the progress you've made recently." He shifted forward, giving Tony a peck on the forehead. "I'm really so proud of you honey." He declared, soft and full of affection.

He leaned back until blue eyes met brown once more. His mouth twisted into a grimace. "If you really don't want to do this, we won't, but please think about it." 

Tony bit his lip. Looking over the other's shoulder, he could get a glimpse of what laid outside of the Milano's bay doors. Deep space. A darkness broken only by the smattering of stars across the sky. The sight was both haunting and strangely beautiful. He looked closely, but could see no evidence of anything hurling itself out of the void. He ceased worrying his lip and sighed. Reminding himself that he was safe; he was safe and nothing was going to hurt him. Least of all Peter. 

His mind circled back to Peter’s request; eventually Tony spoke, "You really want to do this?" Peter nodded hesitantly, not wanting to pressure his lover. Tony considered him for a moment. Finally he spoke, a soft "Okay..." 

Peter brightened slightly at that; his eyes remained hesitant. "Are you sure?" He asked, concern coloring his tone. 

Tony shrugged, attempting to be nonchalant, "I mean I've already done the same thing in my suit right?" He said.

Peter peered into Tony’s eyes, searching for a sign of a lie. 

"You'll tell me if it gets to be too much?" 

Tony nodded. Peter grinned fully now apparently satisfied with his sincerity. Quickly, Peter fastened the device to his chest. He tapped his own and Peter was enveloped in a translucent blue. Tony hesitated for a split second before activating his own. The weigh on his chest and the motion of the exosuit enveloping his body was familiar, the feeling of cool metal gliding down his skin not unlike the feeling of his armor, which assuages some of the fear still in the pit of his stomach. 

Peter put his hands on his waist and tugged him close. Instinctively, Tony wrapped his arm around Peter’s neck, the other man sported a cheeky grin. Tony attempted to smile reassuringly.

Peter threw open the bay doors. Tony closed his eyes and forced himself to take a deep breaths as the feeling of weightlessness overcame the pair and their feet left the ground.

The faint roar of Peter's rocket boots was the only noise, pushing them out of the confines of the ship and out into the vast expanse of space. Once the noise cut out Tony's eyes fluttered open. 

Peter reached up to cup his face, and although he couldn't technically feel it through the exosuit, the motion was comforting so he leaned into it.

He glanced upward and gasped.

Stars, many of them eons old, surrounded him; their light a dim beacon in the ocean of void. They all seem so small from here. He loses himself for a moment in the scale of it all. It never truly gets old, staring into infinity. 

Peter's voice rang out, slightly static-y through the built in radio. "Are you okay?" Tony looked back at him, his brow furrowed with concern; ready to jump into action at a moment's notice.

Tony looked around. The cosmos stretched out on all sides and he was surrounded by emptiness but he didn't feel cold. He looked to Peter, and felt warmth blossom in his chest. He was in space, and he wasn’t alone.

He was with the man who gave him back the stars.

He smiled, his eyes a little damp. 

"I'm great," he said and it was true. He'd never felt better, despite the fact that he was drifting freely through space. 

How things change.

Peter beamed, a wide smile that made his eyes twinkle. He pulled Tony closer to him by his waist. 

"Well babe, get ready, because I'm about to knock your socks off!" 

A muffled whir and his boots fire up again; sending the pair careening through the cosmos. Tony laughed and held his star sailor tighter.

**Author's Note:**

> this was edited by a amazing person on the tony stark defense squad discord server
> 
> thanks Ani!! you wonderful person you
> 
> please comment i crave validation


End file.
